a world of café stories

Customs Brew Bar, Wellington

By KENNY MAH and CK LIM

If you find yourself strolling along Ghuznee Street in Wellington, you’d likely catch a whiff of freshly brewed coffee. This can be enticing but more often than not, the promise isn’t matched by the product or the experience. Not so if you step into Customs Brew Bar, one of the best cafés in town.

Opened in 2010, Customs Brew Bar is the flagship store of Kiwi roaster Coffee Supreme. (We’ve already sampled their impeccable cuppas at their Auckland cafés, Good One and Supreme Seafarers.)

The ambience of the café is not unlike that of a retro airport lounge, all oily wood and olive-green mosaic. The shelves are filled with eclectic bric-à-brac; the space is warm and welcoming.

Enjoy Coffee Supreme’s full range of coffees here, and ask for it to be brewed however you like — V60, Chemex, SwissGold and, of course, espresso. The latter are pulled as shots on a Slayer Espresso machine. Every cup will delight you; it did us.